


on the other side of the mirror

by chatona



Category: Captain America (2011), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Movies), NCIS, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-11
Updated: 2012-02-11
Packaged: 2017-10-30 23:46:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/337535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chatona/pseuds/chatona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anthony DiNozzo meets Anthony Stark for the first time when he was six years old.</p>
            </blockquote>





	on the other side of the mirror

**Author's Note:**

  * For [luthien82](https://archiveofourown.org/users/luthien82/gifts).



> So, Tony DiNozzo will always live in my head and I may have a thing for Tony Stark and, apparently, a thing for boys named Tony who have daddy issues. And then luthien82 said these two should meet and the rest, as they say, is history. Terribly self-indulgent history.
> 
> Beta'd by the fantastic manaie, all remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone. I hope she won't blackmail with the flogging thing.

When they get the call to back off this case, Gibbs looks ready to throw a fit. They’ve spent three days following hunches, chasing down the trail, uncovering new evidence and not getting any closer. None of it makes any sense, and if there’s one thing Tony’s already figured out in the months since he started working for Agent Gibbs it’s that Gibbs does not enjoy being told to back off.

He’s like a dog with a bone, and Tony appreciates that. He’s the same, he only hides it better.

\---

An Agent Coulson comes to pick up their files. He looks bland and astonishingly competent, and Tony wants to hate him on principle alone. Then he remembers where he’s heard the name before, and starts smiling.

He has to give Coulson points for the worried frown. Not many people are perceptive enough to realize they should worry when Tony gets like this. (Gibbs, of course, told him to cut it out the second time they met.)

\---

“So, that guy you mentioned with the tasers and Supernanny. His name was Coulson, wasn’t it?”

“The bane of my existence,” confirms Tony Stark, voice almost gleeful. 

Tony hesitates. “I need a favour.”

“I’m all ears, darling.”

After that, it’s easy to make sure they’re back on the case.

\---

Anthony DiNozzo meets Anthony Stark for the first time when he was six years old. His father has left him in another hotel room, the TV loud and yet not enough of a distraction when there’s the sound of an explosion, even louder than the TV.

Tony doesn’t hesitate; leaving the room and looking around. There’s smoke coming out from under the door to room 107, and he knocks.

“Yeah, ‘s open,” shouts a voice that sounds remarkably like Tony’s own, in that it is young and boyish and not at all like that of most guests in this expensive and exclusive hotel. Most of the guests are golfers or businessmen. Tony never thought that golfers had children, too, though of course it makes sense. Some of the golfers are _also_ businessmen, after all, and he knows that businessmen have children. He’s one of them.

He goes in and closes the door, noting the astonished faces of some other guests and hotel employees at the end of the corridor. In the room there’s a boy with brown hair and big eyes and an impish grin, and for a moment Tony thinks he’s looking into a mirror.

“Hi, I’m Tony,” the boy says, and Tony blinks.

“ _I’m_ Tony,” he says, and the boy (Tony) looks at him and says “Are you kidding me?”

They grin at each other, and the thing that the other Tony is holding gives a sad beeping sound and crumples, smoke slowly dying down between them.

“What’s that?” Tony asks, and the other Tony shrugs and throws the thing behind him. “I’m trying to build a robot. ‘s not working yet.”

They spend the rest of the day shooting zombies on the game console. Tony’s pretty sure they’re too young to be playing this game, but the other Tony just shrugged and said “who cares?” when Tony mentioned it and really, he doesn’t. Care, that is. It’s fun.

\---

When Tony DiNozzo’s father comes back and finds the hotel room empty, it takes him a moment to realize that something’s missing.

“Tony,” he shouts, and a little later his son comes creeping in with a huge grin on his face, barely containing his excitement.

The excitement leaves quickly enough when DiNozzo sends him to bed without dinner, almost raising his hand to the boy, only stopping when Tony protests. It’s been a bad day.

\---

Tony DiNozzo meets Tony Stark for the second time in boarding school. Tony’s been recently disowned and it’s the best thing that’s happened to him, thank you very much, he doesn’t mind it _at all_ and he’s finally somewhere his father can’t touch him anymore, which is good. Tony Stark’s brilliant and funny and an ass, and Tony and Tony spend months playing and sneaking out past curfew and generally being brats, if one were to believe their teachers.

Tony Stark also does ridiculously well in class without even trying, while Tony, well, Tony thinks maybe some of the genius will eventually rub off on him, but it’s not like he’s doing too badly.

The months that they’re both in the same private school are some of the best in Tony’s life. Then Mr Stark decides that Tony (the other Tony) had best go to a school more suitable, and just as quickly as Tony Stark entered Tony DiNozzo’s life for a second time, he leaves it again.

At least this time his own father isn’t there to ruin things for him.

\---

The third time Tony DiNozzo meets Tony Stark, he’s in college and Tony Stark’s long graduated MIT. Tony always knew the guy was a genius, but seeing it all over the papers is something else entirely.

They never kept in contact, but when Tony sees the billboards advertising Tony Stark giving a guest lecture on campus, he figures he should pay the engineering faculty a visit, for the sake of old friendships. 

He settles in to listen, sandwiched between too many geeks for him not to make fun of in his head, and Tony Stark sees him halfway through the lecture. At least Tony assumes that it was halfway through the lecture since there’s still eleven out of 23 slides left to go, but suddenly Tony Stark is hitting some combination of keys and then the screen goes dark and flashes a “thank you for your attention” that Tony can’t imagine Tony writing, but it’s there—and Tony Stark asks “any questions?” and the room explodes with overly excited engineering students, but Tony only takes three questions, before saying “sorry guys, but I gotta go,” and catches Tony’s eye.

An hour later, they’re downing their fourth round of shots and there’s a crowd of girls following them.

Tony DiNozzo fucking _loves_ Tony Stark.

\---

After that, they keep in contact, if only sporadically.

When Tony Stark doesn’t answer his emails for weeks and doesn’t pick up his phone, Tony gets worried enough to call the number Stark once gave him, scribbled on a piece of paper with “Rhodey” underneath it in Stark’s illegible writing.

Tony has been kidnapped, in Afghanistan, and there’s nothing Tony can do to help.

\---

“I’m Iron Man,” Tony Stark announces. They’re watching the press conference because there’s nothing new and cold cases are only interesting for so long.

Tony cheers, and his colleagues look at him with raised eyebrows. Tony doesn’t care.

\---

“Good for you, man, good for you,” Tony says to Tony’s voicemail, and gets an email back six days later:

“Come visit sometime. I’ll even let you touch the suit.”

\---

Three guesses where Tony spends his next holiday. But he’s got an image to maintain, so he tells his co-workers that he was on spring break with his frat brothers. Tony and he went to the same private school for a while there, surely that counts?

\---

Theirs is a strange sort of friendship – sometimes they don’t talk to one another for months, but when they do, it always feels as if they’re on the same page, even though Tony’s technobabble makes no sense to Tony, and Tony’s cases only hold a passing interest to Stark.

Still, when Tony picked up the phone to make sure that he and Gibbs are back on the case, he’s reasonably certain that Tony won’t say no. It’s a chance to annoy both Nick Fury and Agent Coulson and if there’s one thing Tony knows, it’s that Tony is always up for a bit of mischief.

\---

Agent Coulson’s expression doesn’t change when he comes to escort them to S.H.I.E.L.D., which is another point in his favour. Tony’s actually starting to like the man, which he should have expected once Tony Stark told him about the Supernanny comment, really. So long as the man’s quiet competence is not directed at him, he likes Coulson just fine.

Gibbs, now, Gibbs is another story. Gibbs’ eyes keep wandering back and forth between Tony and Coulson, as if he senses that there’s some connection there. _Well_ , Tony thinks, _it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that something’s changed, since we’re back on the case now _, but he hadn’t expected Gibbs to figure out that it was somehow Tony’s doing.__

He should have known. Or maybe he shouldn’t have smiled like that at Coulson the first time. That must have been a dead giveaway.

\---

Nick Fury and Gibbs have a staring contest, and if it weren’t for Tony Stark, Tony DiNozzo would be taking bets right this very moment about who’d win. He’s never met Nick Fury before in his life, but he recognizes the sort of man he is.

Still, Tony hasn’t seen Tony in months and there’s some hugging that is mostly back-slapping and shoulder-nudging and all elbows and grins, and that’s why Tony can’t be taking bets. He’s busy hugging the friend he’s probably known the longest in his whole life. It’s not distraction enough to miss the dark look Gibbs throws him (making Gibbs lose the staring contest and damn it, Tony would have bet on him, it’s probably a good thing he didn’t, then) or the startled concern in the eyes of the huge blond guy that can only be _Captain America_.

\---

They solve the case easily enough, once they put together the information Gibbs and Tony collected with the (classified) information S.H.I.E.L.D can provide, and Gibbs and Tony get to see Captain America, Iron Man and the Black Widow in action, standing next to Agent Coulson - who is muttering into his headset the whole time.

All in all, Tony couldn’t have wished for a better outcome for the case. He and Tony make plans to go drinking in the evening, while they’re still in the same city for once.

\---

It’s Steve Rogers who slides into the booth opposite Tony DiNozzoin the swanky place that Tony Stark suggested though, not Tony, and for a moment that throws Tony off-balance. He notices the way Rogers has clasped his hands, holding them still, and the way he chews on his lower lip for a moment before speaking, and realizes the guy is nervous. It makes Tony feel better, somehow.

“Tony—Tony Stark, of course, Mr DiNozzo, not you, explained to me that he’s known you for a very long time.”

Tony nods, wondering where this will go. The blush that creeps up Rogers’ neck and cheeks and the frown he can’t quite hide gives him a clue, and he has to laugh.

“I’m not fucking Tony Stark,” he confides. “Never have and never will.”

He’s leaving out that time after Tony guest lecture, but there were so many girls in the room and so much alcohol involved that some stray hands and smoldering looks hardly count. Besides, that was _years_ ago. 

Tony figures his omission is justified when he sees Rogers’ shoulders relaxing and the frown slide off his features.

“I only meant to ask if—“ but Tony waves him off, and the other Tony chooses that moment to come to the table, a little surprised – but not unhappy, as Tony notes – that Rogers is already there.

\---

Tony gets back to the hotel room – that he shares with Gibbs, maybe he should have drunk a little less because being drunk in the company of your boss on whom you might have a huge enough crush for even Tony Stark to notice and tease you about, well, it’s not the smartest idea.

Gibbs is still up, and he looks angry. Tony swallows dryly and closes the door behind himself, quietly, and tries not to sway on his feet. “Hi boss,” he says and resists the urge to press himself back against the door; he knows there’s no escaping Gibbs when he’s in a mood like this.

“Have fun?” Gibbs asks, gruff and _angry_ and at the same time, there’s a strangely hesitant note in his voice.

“Yeah,” Tony says, “yeah.” 

Something flares in Gibbs’ eyes, there and gone again, and suddenly Tony understands; or he thinks he does, it might just be the product of seeing Steve Rogers and Tony Stark dance around one another (not literally, thank God) in the bar, and if he’s wrong, this might well ruin his career, but.

“I didn’t, boss. Never have, with Stark, and won’t, I’m not interested in him like that, and there was no one tonight either. There’s no one else.” _but you_ , but he leaves that part unsaid.

Gibbs still seems to get it, because a moment later, there’s hands in his hair and he’s being pressed back against the door and Gibbs’ lips are hot and demanding on his own.

Briefly, Tony wonders if his meddling means that Tony Stark is also getting some, that Rogers will stop worrying, but the thought is replaced quickly by Gibbs’ tongue in his mouth and Gibbs’ hands on his body. He’s allowed to touch now, he thinks, and promptly does, running a hand over Gibbs’ back and side and under his shirt.

And then he doesn’t think anymore for a while, because there’s only Gibbs.


End file.
